


you know i spent some time (in hollywood)

by localopa



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Actor Harry, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Exes to Lovers, Famous/Not famous, M/M, Uni Student Louis, breakup makeup, famous/not famous AU, you mean all that i write?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:34:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27154570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localopa/pseuds/localopa
Summary: harry’s an actor. louis’ the man he left behind
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 58





	you know i spent some time (in hollywood)

**Author's Note:**

> hello! i recently went through a breakup, which meant i’ve listened to a lot of divinely uninspired to a hellish extent by lewis capaldi (great album whether or not you’re incredibly sad btw), which means i listened to hollywood by lewis capaldi. which in turn means i wrote this. thank you to the lovely daisy for betaing this and lewis capaldi for writing a great breakup album. title of this piece is from hollywood by lewis capaldi. enjoy!
> 
> xx. oliver

when louis thought about it, never in a million years did he think harry would show up back on his doorstep. 

but here he is, dressed in a jumper and pajama pants, hair a mess while harry looks like an utter dream. 

“what are you doing here?” louis asks, hand gripping the door so hard that his knuckles turn white. 

harry’s eyes flutter down to his lips and stay there for a second, like he’s thinking about kissing him. which he shouldn’t; harry’s not allowed to. not anymore. his eyes go over to the hand on the door, then back to louis. 

“i’m in town,” he says, like he’s been practicing it in his head for the past five minutes. “thought i’d pay a visit.”

louis doesn’t believe him. “how’d you get my address?”

harry shrugs. “have my connections.”

  1. niall. 



louis shakes his head. “you shouldn’t be here,” he starts, closing the door.

the door stops. looking down, louis stares at harry's foot blocking the door from fully closing. “i should.”

“you  _ shouldn’t,”  _ louis says again, this time slightly more confident. “please leave.”

the door pushes open, harry walking in. “i’m not leaving again.”

louis suppresses the urge to roll his eyes. “i’m asking you kindly, harry. please leave.”

“and i’m saying this kindly,  _ no _ ,” harry closes the door behind him, crossing his arms over his chest. “i’m here to apologize.”

the thing is - louis has been waiting for this for three years. has been waiting for harry to come back into his life and tell him he’s made a huge mistake leaving him. that he wants louis back, almost begging on his knees to make it happen. 

but - harry left. that’s what happened. louis didn’t give him any ultimatum, didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. just went to sleep one night with harry clinging to his back, only to wake up to a note saying he’d gone on a plan to america, to california, to  _ hollywood _ . he thought that they had been okay, that they’d been doing great. even discussed marriage and starting a family with the guy. 

so the thing is, louis’ been waiting for this moment since the day harry left, but he fears it may be too late. 

-

harry doesn’t leave. well, he  _ does _ leave, he’s not rude enough to make louis house him. but he keeps coming back. he comes back every day and waits on the porch, sometimes he pushes his way into the house when it rains. he leaves around dinner time, nodding at louis before he goes. 

louis cries at night, confused about what this all means. he wakes up more tired than when he goes to sleep. sometimes he doesn’t sleep at all. 

because louis knows harry’s successful, heard it from friends and family alike. it’s not like harry failed at being an actor or whatever the fuck, now coming home with his tail between his legs. so why is harry here, in doncaster of all places, when he should be filming or doing an interview or  _ something _ that isn’t playing games with louis’ heart. 

after two weeks of this nonsense, louis cracks.

“what are you doing here?” he asks from where he is in the dining room, hands poised to type on his laptop. 

“i told you, to apologize,” harry respond, getting up from the couch and joining him at the table. 

louis shakes his head. “you would’ve been gone by now,” he replies, typing something on his laptop before closing it. he crosses his arms over his chest. “you have better things to do than to sit around with the plebs.”

harry tenses up. “don’t say that,” he mutters. 

“what? am i not correct?” louis asks, astonished. “you have things to do, harry. things to do, places to see, people to fuck. and none of that is getting accomplished while you’re sitting here, not apologizing about leaving me and the rest of your friends in the dust.”

harry fish mouths for a moment, trying to come up with something to say. he shrinks in on himself, arms wrapped around his middle. louis’ right, though, that harry has better things to do. it’s been three years of radio silence from harry’s end, and louis wants harry out of his flat. 

“i haven’t… that’s not the point, lou.”

“don’t call me that,” louis snaps. “you’ve lost every right to call me that when you left without saying shit.”

louis grabs his laptop and stomps off to his room, locking the door behind him so harry can’t get in. harry can let himself out, he doesn’t care anymore. 

harry broke his heart, that’s what happened when he left. he tried calling and texting harry, begging his friends to try and get through to him. he wanted his harry back, wanted all the good, the bad, and the ugly that came with it. 

but he left. and he took louis’ heart with him.

-

harry doesn’t come back for a week, and, while louis won’t admit it, it’s one of the worst weeks of his life. 

he can’t focus, trying to do his masters work but he just can’t. his mind wanders to the curls that were cut short, the piercing green eyes, the man that louis loves. 

loved. he  _ loved _ harry. 

louis doesn’t fall behind on his work, but it sure feels like it. he’s grown used to harry sitting in his living space, eyes glued to him as he does what he does. and, again he won’t admit to it, he misses harry with his whole being. 

louis is loud, always has been, but he’s been muted ever since harry left. with harry back, he finally feels like he can breathe again. 

-

louis is coming home from work when he spots a bouquet of flowers in a vase on his front porch. he can see there’s a note through the flowers. taking the flowers inside and setting them on the counter, he takes the note out. 

_ honey honey, how you thrill me _

_ honey honey, nearly kill me _

_ oh, you make me dizzy _

a smile creeps onto his face, as he reads the lyrics to one of his favorite abba songs,  _ honey honey _ , obviously scrawled on with harry’s handwriting. there’s no name, but he can tell from the handwriting that it’s him. he looks back to the flowers and notices they’re sunflowers, all facing towards him. 

_ “like you’re the sun,” harry said, taking out his phone to take a picture of louis.  _

_ louis giggles. “i’m hardly a sun,” he says back.  _

_ once he takes the picture, harry pockets his phone, going over to louis and wrapping his arms around his middle. “to me, you are the entire universe.” _

louis swallows, tearing up. he hates this. harry has no right to come back into his life like this, when he was finally,  _ finally,  _ getting over him. 

tears properly forming now, he takes the flowers out of the vase, setting them on the counter before throwing the vase at the wall. he cries harder as he picks apart the flowers, throwing pieces onto the ground. he’s so  _ mad _ , so  _ frustrated _ . he falls to the floor of his kitchen, continuing to tear the flowers apart, petal by petal. he hates harry. 

he hates hates  _ hates  _ harry styles. 

-

it’s how harry finds him, inconsolably sobbing into bloody hands on the kitchen tile, trying to pick up pieces of the glass. 

“louis?” 

it startles louis, head whipping around to the sound. he’s a mess, and probably looks it, too. it’s been hours since he got home, and he’s sobbing on the floor with glass in his hands because of stupid harry styles. 

“- okay?” harry had been talking, apparently, louis’ eyes drawn up to his face. “c’mon, love. up you get.”

louis nods mutely, dropping the glass from his hand and letting harry help him up. thankfully, he’s wearing shoes still, so his feet don’t get any glass in them. harry dusts off louis’ knees and legs, gently tugging him out of the kitchen. 

harry keeps talking, but louis feels numb and spacey, not paying attention to what he’s saying. he doesn’t even really realize that he’s speaking directly to him until worried green eyes are looking into his own. 

“what?” louis rasps. 

“i asked you what happened,” harry says gently, pouring alcohol onto a cotton ball. “this’ll sting a bit.”

harry presses the cotton ball to the cuts on louis’ hand, and louis hisses. “vase broke.”

“we both know there’s more to that,” harry says after a moment, reaching for a gauze pad. “how did the vase break?”

louis swallows. “threw it at a wall.”

harry freezes for a second before continuing to bandage louis up. “louis…”

“no,” louis says, a sudden burst of confidence. “you don’t get to ‘ _ louis’ _ me. not after you left.”

“i didn’t just leave you, i left everyone,” harry says, like that’s any better. 

“you were dating everyone then?” louis snaps, pulling his hand to his chest, cradling it. “fuck off, harry. how did you even get in here?”

“you left the door unlocked, but that’s not the point. i came to apol-“

“oh? like how you’ve been trying to for the past month?” louis narrows his eyes. “well, guess what? you suck at apologies. and i want you out of my home before i call the police.” he hops off the counter, pushing rather aggressively past harry and going towards his front door. 

he doesn’t make it, harry stopping him midway. “louis, i’m sorry. you don’t know how sorry i am for leaving the way i did. i- i didn’t have a choice, they weren’t giving me one. i had to be in la, that’s all they told me.”

“we were together three years, harry. you had a choice and you made it when you fucking left,” louis sneers, wiggling out of harry’s hold. “why are you even back? why aren’t you with that fucking bird?”

“that bird is a beard, louis. it’s all for show, i swear,” harry looks like he’s on the verge of tears, taking in a stuttered breath. “i came back because i missed you, i missed  _ us.  _ i know i fucked up, okay? and i’m so, so,  _ so sorry  _ that i left. they didn’t give me much of a choice.”

“you had a choice! i know it was your dream to be an actor in hollywood, and you chose to follow that dream while fucking everyone else over,” louis cried. “you left me and your friends and your family all behind because you thought you didn’t have a choice. and then you wouldn’t answer any of my calls, harry.”

harry runs his hands through his hair, trying to remain calm. “they made me block your number, i swear they did. they cut me off from everyone, it wasn’t just you.”

louis starts to hyperventilate, falling back into the couch as he cries. he curls in on himself, sobbing into the back of the couch. 

harry walks over to louis, pulling him into his chest as they both cry. louis doesn’t even have the heart to fight him off, wrapping his arms around harry’s middle and sobbing into his chest. harry cards his fingers through his hair, silent tears running down his face as he comforts louis. 

“i’m going to make it up to you. i swear i will,” harry promises, pressing a kiss to louis’ hair. 

-

it takes months for louis to trust harry again. 

harry has to leave for a week to tie up loose ends with his management, dropping them effective immediately. by the time he flies back home, he’s a free agent and feels a thousand times lighter. 

every day that louis comes home from work or uni, he’s met with a present from harry. flowers to chocolates to a life size cut out of john travolta as danny from  _ grease _ , it’s always some kind of present. 

_ “you know you don’t have to do this,” louis says one day, coming home to a harry waiting on his couch with love, actually on the telly and warm buttered popcorn in his lap.  _

_ “you’re worth it,” harry tells him, smiling from the other side of the couch.  _

three months in to wooing louis, harry takes him on a date to the finest italian restaurant in town. as a reward, and to show harry that he’s succeeding in trying to win him back, he lets harry fuck him until he’s a crying mess. 

_ “are you for real?” harry asks, breaking the kiss to pull off louis’ shirt.  _

_ louis nods. “you’ve been good, should reward good behavior,” he says cheekily. _

_ harry drops to his knees then and there.  _

harry still has a following, and has been vague-posting about his rekindled romance on social media. the day he posts a picture of louis tucked around him, he nearly breaks the internet. 

harry never goes back out to hollywood, finding a job at the local theatre instead. harry says that performing onstage every night gives him more of a high than filming a movie ever will. 

it takes months for louis to trust harry again, months to let him trickle back into his life and make himself a permanent fixture in his life again. but it takes thirty seconds to say yes to harry’s proposal.

**Author's Note:**

> tell me if you cried on tumblr @voulezloux


End file.
